A social network approach to estimating seroprevalence in the United States

doi:10.1016/S0378-8733(96)00305-X

Social Networks

Volume 20, Issue 1, January 1998, Pages 23-50

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-8733(96)00305-X Get rights and content

Abstract

Results from a representative survey of respondents in Florida are given, concerning their knowledge about members of their personal network, and specifically how many people respondents know in selected subpopulations. We employ a method known as a “network scale-up method”. By using a collection of subpopulations of known size, and also asking about one subpopulation (those who are seropositive) of unknown size, we make various estimates of personal network size and the size of the seropositive subpopulation. Our best (maximum likelihood, unbiased) estimates are 108 members of the network defined by “having been in contact with during the previous two years”, and (approximately unbiased) 1.6 million for the seropositive subpopulation. Because of the proportional over-representation of AIDS (and presumably, therefore, seropositive) in Florida, by a factor of about two, this latter estimate could be an overestimate.

References (25)

H.R. Bernard et al.
Comparing four different methods for measuring personal social networks
Social Networks
(1990)
E.C. Johnsen et al.
A social network approach to corroborating the number of AIDS/HIV + victims in the U.S.
Social Networks
(1995)
P.D. Killworth et al.
Estimating the size of personal networks
Social Networks
(1990)
G.A. Shelley et al.
Who knows your HIV status? What HIV + patients and their network members know about each other
Social Networks
(1995)
R. Altman et al.
Premarital HIV-1 testing in New Jersey
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
(1992)
H.R. Bernard et al.
Estimating the size of an average personal network and of an event subpopulation
H.R. Bernard et al.
Estimating the size of an average personal network and of an event subpopulation: Some empirical results
Social Science Research
(1991)
J.F. Brundage et al.
Tracking the spread of HIV infection epidemic among young adults in the United States: Results of the first four years of screening among civilian applicants for U.S. military service
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
(1990)
Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
HIV prevalence estimates and AIDS case projections for the United States: Report based upon a workshop
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
(1990)
V. De Gruttola et al.
Estimating prevalence of HIV infection: Considerations in the design and analysis of a national seroprevalence survey
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
(1989)

L.C. Freeman et al.

Estimating acquaintanceship volume

M.H. Gail et al.

Methods for projecting course of acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic

Journal of the National Cancer Institute

(1988)

Cited by (80)

Uses and limitations of dichotomous aggregate relational data
2023, Social Networks
Aggregate relational data (ARD) on relationships between individuals and subgroups have been informative for studying egocentric network size and degree distributions, assessing segregation in contact with subpopulations, and estimating the size of unlisted groups. Scale-up models for ARD usually assume survey data giving counts of acquaintances in subpopulations, but a closed-ended response format that asks respondents to select a category covering a range of counts may be less burdensome. The simplest (dichotomous) such format distinguishes between having one or more acquaintances in a subpopulation and having none; many existing position generator data take this form. We assess the potential of dichotomous ARD by adapting existing methods for inference from count ARD to accommodate such data. We find that they permit estimation of degree distributions for basic scale-up models, though estimates are less precise than those from count ARD. Dichotomous ARD do not contain sufficient information to model segregation, however. These limitations may be addressed by estimating segregation using respondent heterogeneity on observed covariates, and/or by using a slightly expanded closed response format (0, 1, or two or more acquaintances). Our results suggest how the applications of position generator data – which typically collect dichotomous ARD – might be broadened to encompass questions studied using ARD.
Inferring latent social networks from stock holdings
2019, Journal of Financial Economics
We infer the latent social networks of investors using data on their stock holdings. We map linkages to portfolio weights using a portfolio-choice model. The precision of an investor’s private signal about firm value is assumed to increase with his connections in the city where the firm is headquartered. Using money-manager data, we find that managerial linkages to a city are overly dispersed relative to the Erdös–Rényi model of i.i.d. connections. Managers at the tail of this distribution with non-i.i.d. linkages have more university alumni in that city. Their stock holdings there outperform their holdings in other cities.
Nowcasting Temporal Trends Using Indirect Surveys
2024, Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Size and ethnic homogeneity of extended social networks in the Netherlands: Differences between migrant groups and migrant generations
2024, International Migration
Using the network scale-up method to characterise kidney trafficking in Kalai Upazila, Bangladesh
2023, BMJ Global Health
Respondent-driven sampling: An overview in the context of human trafficking
2023, arXiv

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

A social network approach to estimating seroprevalence in the United States

Abstract

Social Networks

Social Networks

Social Networks

Social Networks

Premarital HIV-1 testing in New Jersey

Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

Estimating the size of an average personal network and of an event subpopulation

Estimating the size of an average personal network and of an event subpopulation: Some empirical results

Social Science Research

Tracking the spread of HIV infection epidemic among young adults in the United States: Results of the first four years of screening among civilian applicants for U.S. military service

Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

HIV prevalence estimates and AIDS case projections for the United States: Report based upon a workshop

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Estimating prevalence of HIV infection: Considerations in the design and analysis of a national seroprevalence survey

Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

Estimating acquaintanceship volume

Methods for projecting course of acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic

Journal of the National Cancer Institute